The latest lawsuit alleges that Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and co-defendants David Arredondo and Clarissa Chapa have forged documents, committed tax fraud and paid themselves excessive fees for managing the five businesses while scheming to withhold money from the trust.

It was filed in Bexar County on Thursday on behalf of San Antonio criminal defense lawyer Raymond De Leon, who was assigned to oversee management of the trust.

A separate lawsuit filed July 3 in Laredo alleges that the same trio drained the $1.7 million Delfina Alexander maintained outside the trust when she died in January 2008.

As executors of the estate, they were supposed to pass that money as well to the heirs, the lawsuit states.

Instead, they paid themselves more than $420,000 — more than quadruple the amount executors are allowed under law — and still owe the family $377,681, the family claimed in court documents.

Laredo attorney Carlos Zaffirini, who represents the three defendants, including his wife, said Friday that both recent filings appear to be part of an ongoing coordinated effort.

“They've tried four times before to break the trust,” he said, explaining that it was set up by the sisters so that the heirs “will have a comfortable life but not an extravagant one.”

Carlos Zaffirini described the trust as intended to protect the family fortune from Vidal Guerra, the husband of Gonzalez's daughter and heir, Rocio Guerra.

In depositions taken as a result of a 2006 lawsuit filed by the heirs, Vidal Guerra acknowledged giving himself about $100,000 in loans from the companies that were never paid back and paying himself $250,000 in unauthorized commissions, court documents state.

“They want the gift, but they don't like the conditions under which the mother and the aunt are giving the gift,” Carlos Zaffirini said.

San Antonio attorney James McNeel, who authored the latest lawsuit, said there is nothing in the trust papers that calls for a “comfortable but not extravagant” lifestyle for the heirs.

“That's (Carlos Zaffirini's) way to defend what they're doing,” he said. “All we're trying to do is make sure these businesses are being managed correctly and preserved as these two ladies intended.”

Josefina Alexander Gonzalez, the one surviving trust creator who could definitively shed light on the disagreement, is no longer considered competent by the court. The Zaffirini trio has been given power of attorney for her.

With control over the Delfina Alexander estate and power of attorney for Josephina Alexander Gonzalez, the trio has kept a tight grip on the five businesses, the latest lawsuit states.

Some of the businesses have been inactive for years and should be liquidated into the trust, the suit contends.

“Nevertheless, defendants continue the existence of this partnership, which results in incurring fees for management, accounting and tax return preparation, among other things,” the suit states.